Sailing into murky waters

The following is a cracker of an article written by Mike O'Connor in the Courier Mail April 24 2006.

THE chardonnay was flowing at an inner-city function a few weeks back when the conversation turned to the proposed development of a cruise ship terminal at the Southport Spit.

I was speaking to someone with a corporate interest in The Spit, his company spending tens of millions of dollars on its business so that it could capitalise on the passenger traffic the cruise terminal would bring when built.

He painted a tantalising image of the profits that'd flow once cruise ships began disgorging thousands of cashed up tourists on to the Gold Coast.

It was obvious, to hear him speak, that the project would be a river of gold for the developers.
I pointed out, rather naively as it transpired, State Cabinet hadn't made any decision to authorise the construction of the terminal and, in any case, the environmental impact study commissioned by the Beattie Government had not yet been completed.

Was not this investment of untold millions and talk of the money that would pour into corporate pockets as a result a tad premature, I asked.

What if the EIS found the ecology of The Spit would be damaged by a cruise ship terminal, I asked, adding that it was difficult to see how such damage could not occur given the construction and dredging that would take place.

The developer looked at me patronisingiy and winked. "Don't you worry, it's going to be built," he said and walked away.

What he was saying was he knew the score before the game was played. The fix was in. Peter Beattie and his dutiful deputy Anna Bligh already had decided developers would have their way and be a allowed to bulldoze one of the last natural stretches of beachfront land - yours and mine - on the Gold Coast.

A deal, it seems, has been done and in the finest traditions of Queensland politics, it's been done in secret.

The people presently conducting the EIS commissioned and paid by the State Government are wasting their time and your money. It's a sham - the decision has been reached already.

The public, as usual, will be treated like morons, the presumption being that they are so stupid they will happily swallow whatever government PR swill is served up.

In a few months, Beattie will hold a press conference to announce the EIS results have been delivered and that after much debate and fulsome intellectual exchange among ministers, it's been decided that what this great state of ours needs is a huge cruise ship terminal slamdunked on to The Spit

All involved will don serious expressions to convince us the decision has been made in the best interests of Queensland and that the whole business has been conducted with the transparency that democracy demands.

Secret deals? Heavens, no.

The reality is that all those protesting locals may as well roll up their banners and put away their placards because it is plain there was never any intention to listen to a dissenting viewpoint, no matter how forceful and convincing a case was presented.

Anyone who decries the decision to build the terminal will be accused of trying to destroy the tourism industry.

The Bjelke-Petersen government committed grievous sins in the name of development, and when it ran into public opposition it went ahead and did what it wanted anyway. It did it in the dead of night if the politics of the situation demanded, such as the demolition of the historic BelleVue Hotel.

It's the arrogance that irritates. I predicted in this column a few weeks back that when Beattie said Suncorp Stadium could perhaps be used to stage rock concerts, in spite of his assurances when it was built this would never happen, what he meant was the exact opposite and it has come to pass.

When the Opposition attacked this breach of faith, the Premier said it wanted to drag Brisbane back to the '50s! One can only hope that one of the Premier's bagholders Wrote this line for him and it was not one of his own creation.

The point, which he deliberately ignored, was that the Government had broken its word and had given assurances to voters which, I am certain, it never had any intention of honouring.

A similar scenario is being played out on the Gold Coast now as the Government pretends to await the results of its own environmental impact study. The study could find The Spit to be the secret breeding ground of a thousand orange-bellied parrots and they'd still dismiss it and give the thumbs up to the developers. It's the way business is done in this state.